The picture is just a transitional help that lets her let go. She's probably not attached to all those objects and papers; she's "just" experiencing anxiety about the permanence of getting rid of them.
I guess? When I thought about it, I realized that she does actually look at her old notebooks and workbooks from K, 1 and 2. I know she does because I see them taken out. She also looks at Valentines (see, I'm not so bad--I have let her keep all her valentines every year, from preschool on!) and old cards. So, some of it she does look at. The building creations may be different because they aren't associated with a relationship? It's funny because the child has a memory of an elephant...she remembers her pre-K classmates perfectly already...
This is just another example of a way in which DD and I really differ. I really get wanting to keep special projects, letters from friends, but I cannot understand keeping a fractions worksheet. It doesn't help, I think, that this is a sore spot with DH and I about HIS stuff. (HIs thing is usually, "I might need it someday." He isn't sentimental. It's about...what if?) And I live in fear of the day we have to clean out his mother's house...
